Duane Morris LLP

In the sphere of Energy, Environment and Resources, change is a constant. Events in recent years underscore how quickly and acutely these changes affect businesses and consumers in the United States and around the world. Duane Morris, as both advisor and advocate, guides clients through complex legal, financial, practical and political issues.

Energy

Bringing energy to market requires more than advanced technology and raw resources. Regardless of the fuel source - fossil fuels, nuclear power, waste or renewable sources - all energy producers must also deal with government oversight, fluctuating market conditions and surging demand. Those who regulate energy markets must appreciate and channel the external pressures facing the industry and, in forming energy policy, they must carefully weigh the impact that changes to energy law can have on businesses, consumers and the environment while advancing energy security and technological innovation.

For both producers and policymakers, as well as industry participants and consumers, Duane Morris attorneys help manage the dynamic challenges of the energy market. Our attorneys counsel our clients on regulations, transactions, litigation, siting, project development, facility construction, operation, financing, taxation, government relations and policy matters concerning energy. Our attorneys draw upon legal and industry experience to find creative solutions to meet our clients' needs.

Electricity

Duane Morris attorneys advise clients on the legal, practical and business issues surrounding electricity generation, transmission, distribution, policy, regulation, sale and consumption. Our experience includes representation of domestic and international producers, federal and state regulatory agencies, independent electric transmission system operators, publicly owned utility companies, conventional and alternative energy developers, demand response providers, end users and others. Our attorneys draw upon industry experience gained from work for governmental agencies and with private and public electricity companies.

In addition to serving clients within the United States, the firm represents international clients in energy projects and other energy-related matters throughout the world.

Natural Gas and LNG

Read about the development outlook for Pennsylvania's Marcellus ShaleDuane Morris attorneys understand the challenges of producing, transporting, storing and distributing natural gas to businesses and consumers in the United States and around the world. Duane Morris provides strategic legal and business counsel to the entire spectrum of participants in the natural gas, LNG and biogas business cycle.

We assist clients with exploration and production issues, gathering, processing and transportation issues, project development, finance, taxation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory counsel, transactional and litigation services for complex natural gas, Marcellus Shale, LNG and biogas projects.
Oil

Duane Morris has long served clients in the oil industry. Our attorneys draw upon a combination of legal and industry experience to represent clients in regulatory proceedings before state and federal agencies and international forums. With the resources of a global firm, our Energy Practice can help clients in a variety of corporate acquisitions, including the leasing, purchase and sale of undeveloped and producing properties, gathering and processing systems, pipelines and other significant assets as well as due diligence, bids and related financing issues. Throughout the entire business cycle, Duane Morris attorneys have extensive experience in assisting clients with matters concerning oil exploration, facility construction, distribution, refining, import/export, financing and related transactions.

Nuclear

Duane Morris lawyers' experience in the nuclear arena ranges from the boardroom to the control room, from the nuclear island to the turbine floor. Our lawyers advise clients on all aspects of the legal and business issues surrounding the siting, financing, construction and operation of electricity generation facilities, the regulation of distribution, sale and consumption, and issues concerning nuclear waste. Our experience includes work for producers, regulatory agencies, independent system operators and publicly owned utility companies. We represent electric utilities and their operating subsidiaries in regulatory proceedings before Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Courts of Appeals.

Our firm has a strong technological foundation, boasting dozens of attorneys with engineering degrees, including experienced nuclear engineers, and others who have worked directly in nuclear plants in technical, supervisory and managerial roles.

Renewable Energy and Sustainability

Worldwide demand for energy continues to increase dramatically, even as traditional sources of energy are diminishing. Concurrently, global, national and state-level concerns with climate change have raised the level of interest in reducing carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels. To meet these emerging challenges, governments, businesses and consumers are joining the movement to develop energy from renewable sources and to conserve energy where possible. Technological advances, legislative requirements, incentives, and consumer demand have made renewable energy development possible, but innovative legal thinking is needed to make sustainable or renewable energy a reality.

Duane Morris attorneys are deeply involved in and committed to the renewable energy and conservation markets. From emerging businesses with innovative energy solutions to traditional energy companies seeking to develop new "green" and renewable energy sources, and from national and international government agencies to entrepreneurial individuals, Duane Morris serves a diverse constituency in the global energy economy.

Hydropower

Representation of hydropower owners involves the intersection of multiple disciplines, including energy, water, environmental, financial, political and, at times, litigation. Duane Morris lawyers have worked with and represented hydropower owners for more than 35 years. Our attorneys regularly practice before FERC and are very knowledgeable regarding how the commission functions. This experience, coupled with our years of dealing with water system, fishery regulations and stakeholder processes, positions our attorneys to comprehensively represent parties in hydropower proceedings.

Energy Facility Construction

The financing, planning and construction of any major infrastructure project is always highly scrutinized, multistaged and multifaceted. When a project's aim is to create a new facility to generate power, the scrutiny, complexity and potential for challenges increase exponentially. Whether in the early planning stages of a new energy plant or overseeing the construction of a facility that is beginning to take shape, having informed, savvy and experienced legal counsel is vital. Distributed and on-site cogeneration installations are also subject to a host of requirements that are best handled with the assistance of highly experienced counsel.

Duane Morris lawyers understand that undertaking projects large or small requires big-picture thinking partnered with dexterous handling and execution of finely drawn details. In working with clients regarding issues involving nuclear power, oil, gas, coal, biomass, wind, solar, or water, our lawyers bring skills from a broad range of disciplines to advise our clients throughout the many stages of energy facility construction projects.

Environment

When industry or government leaders need advice on environmental matters, Duane Morris attorneys are often the advisors and advocates turned to first. Members of our practice group represent clients with regulatory compliance, enforcement and transaction-related needs. Our attorneys also assist federal and state regulators and agencies in the formation and implementation of regulations and policy.

Our group has been involved in multibillion-dollar transactions and litigated significant cases on complex regulatory issues before government agencies and state and federal courts. Duane Morris attorneys have been members of, and frequently deal with, numerous agencies, committees, commissions and associations that impact our environmental clients.

Partners in our group have served in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Environmental Law and as chair of the ABA's Section on Environment, Energy and Resources.

Resources

Natural Resources

The attorneys from Duane Morris' Natural Resources group counsel clients concerning their rights and obligations under federal environmental statutes and regulations, as well as similar state and local laws, and represent clients in related enforcement proceedings and litigation.

In particular, the Natural Resources group has assisted clients with developing endangered species mitigation banks, obtaining permitting associated with wetlands protection, creating habitat conservation plans and related plans for endangered species and negotiating mining and timber leases.

Our attorneys, with the capabilities and reach of a global law firm, can assist clients with complex water and natural resources legal problems at the local, national and international levels.

Water

One of society's oldest problems is managing water. Today, the challenge of water is not only supply, but also state and federal legislation, increasing regulatory control, supply-demand conflicts, emerging technologies and environmental concerns that accompany the fundamental question of water rights. The attorneys of the Duane Morris Water Practice address the intertwined interests of government, business and the community when legal issues involving water emerge.

Duane Morris Water attorneys assist clients in advisory, regulatory and litigation matters involving water, the environment and natural resources. With Duane Morris' broad capabilities, the Water Practice works closely with the lawyers in our Environmental, Natural Resources, Trial and Real Estate practices when our clients' complex legal and business issues require a multidisciplinary approach.

"In my discussions with Duane Morris leaders, they frequently speak about how diversity within their firm has enabled them to better serve their diverse clients. They understand that investing in diversity is a wise business decision that positions them for the marketplace of the future."

Don Liu
Senior VP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
Xerox Corporation

At Duane Morris, achieving diversity is paradoxical. By supporting and celebrating the differences of our attorneys - and the individual strengths that they bring - our firm culture expands, fostering creative solutions for our clients. But diversity at Duane Morris does not mean that we have a certain number of diverse attorneys; true diversity means that it is no longer noteworthy to see diverse lawyers leading our practice groups or managing client relationships. Ascending to positions of leadership and greater responsibility and providing the highest levels of client service is simply what is expected of all our lawyers. Diversity is another strong asset that adds to our collective abilities to meet the needs of our clients.

Our vision of diversity at Duane Morris is to realize an environment in which our lawyers' outstanding qualities are not just measured by ethnicity, race, gender and sexual orientation, but more importantly, that our lawyers are remarkable as excellent attorneys above all else. Only then can we celebrate our differences while focusing on the common pursuit of legal excellence which everyone shares at Duane Morris.

To reach this goal, Duane Morris understands that the familiar diversity strategies and policies that most law firms have are needed. Without demanding results from such policies, most law firms are bound to fail in even achieving numerical hiring and retention goals. Duane Morris has been proactive and ambitious in its efforts to improve diversity at the firm, and has set deadlines for reaching the milestones which mark our progress. To create a more diverse law firm, Duane Morris is:

• Committed to strategically increasing our diversity levels, which is currently at 10 percent.
• Bringing together our Diversity Committee and our Hiring and Retention Committee to raise diversity as an important factor in our hiring decisions.
• Dedicated to improving retention by building upon our monitoring and mentoring program for all diverse associates.

Combining new initiatives with our longstanding diversity efforts, Duane Morris has seen increasingly positive results. In the Minority Law Journal's annual diversity survey of the nation's largest 260 firms, Duane Morris continued to improve its regional and national ranking, rising to number 136 of all firms surveyed. Our strides in Philadelphia are encouraging; in a city known for both the racial diversity of its population and the lack thereof in its law firms, Duane Morris is one of only two law firms to exceed the national average of minority partners at all law firms. Additionally, Duane Morris leads all national law firms based in Philadelphia in the number of Latino partners. Nearly 30 percent of all of our attorneys are women, and more than 20 percent of our partners are women.

In our approach to diversity, progress in racial, gender and cultural diversity cannot be measured in numbers alone. Duane Morris has focused our diversity initiatives on both increasing the number of diverse associates and addressing the challenges diverse attorneys face in building lasting careers and rising to senior and leadership positions. While several of our key practice groups are led by diverse partners and female partners, Duane Morris endeavors to create a culture which will foster a deep pool of such attorneys who can then develop into the firm's future leaders. Duane Morris understands that simply hiring diverse associates will not change the diversity of the firm; Duane Morris is working to mentor and retain diverse associates so that our progress in racial, gender and cultural diversity is also reflected at the highest levels of leadership within the firm.

Our progress on gender diversity has been profound. We have no glass ceilings: women hold positions of leadership at all levels of management at the firm. Women lead a number of our key practice groups, including our Energy, Immigration and International practices, and serve on the firm's Executive Committee. The success of our female attorneys at Duane Morris has not gone unnoticed. Barbara Adams was chair of the firm's Finance Practice until her appointment by Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell to serve as General Counsel of the Commonwealth. In 2004, our longtime General Counsel, Gene E.K. Pratter, was approved by the United States Senate and is now a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Our efforts to improve diversity extend beyond our firm's walls. The chair of our Diversity Committee, Nolan N. Atkinson, Jr., recognized the lack of diversity in Philadelphia's legal community and formed the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group. Nolan now serves as the chair of the organization, a consortium of 25 law firms and corporations that commits to employing at least one diverse first-year law student each as a summer associate. From this program, law students of diverse backgrounds gain access to what was once an exclusive legal community, and now have the opportunity to learn and develop their legal careers with experience at Philadelphia's top law firms.

In addition to our involvement in the Philadelphia area, Duane Morris has increased our presence at national conferences and events focused on diversity. We sponsor the Hispanic National Bar Association and its job fair. Duane Morris is also a longtime supporter and sponsor of the Equality Forum, a national gay and lesbian rights organization. Duane Morris continues to sponsor the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and is active in other associations of diverse attorneys including: the Asian American Bar Association of the Delaware Valley; the Charles Houston Bar Association; Cuban Bar Association; Korean American Lawyers Association; National American Indian Housing Counsel and the National Bar Association.

The challenge of improving gender, ethnic and cultural diversity at Duane Morris is an ongoing effort that has the support of the entire firm. Duane Morris has been at the vanguard in supporting gender diversity throughout the firm beginning a generation ago. Our diversity programs are leading to similar success in improving racial and national origin diversity at Duane Morris. But even as we share these examples of Duane Morris attorneys and our involvement in numerous legal events, associations and programs for diversity, our hope is that such examples will no longer be necessary to mention in the future. We hope that through our efforts, and the efforts of other law firms, these stories become so common that they are no longer the remarkable accomplishments they are today, but simply routine aspects of the legal world tomorrow.